July 12, 2023
The river is still low and clear as of Sunday, with the CFS at 22.
The dry flyfishing is still very good at this time with elk hair, Caddis, blue wing olives, parachute Adams, Griffiths gnats, beetles and ants all afternoon and small hoppers are still doing very well.
Cracklebacks will catch fish most of the afternoon, and small dry flies, gray and cream in a size 24 or a size 26 will also catch fish early in the morning, and in the late evening.
With the low clear water, a 7X nylon leader is best for all of your very small flies. I would say size 14s and smaller if you are using the larger flies; you can probably get away with a 9 foot 6X leader.
Nymph fishing is also very good. I would try a small, black, zebra, midge, or a very small copper John, or maybe a very small scud, or sow bug; and when I say I small, I mean 18s and smaller.
One of my favorite nymphs is a pheasant tail and they will catch fish about any time of the year.
Woolly buggers, in black or olive, have been working very well the last few weeks. I generally start with a black or an olive woolly bugger in the mornings. These will generally produce a few fish, and if you fish them all day, they will catch fish often throughout the day.
Glow balls, San Juan, worms and mop flies are still catching plenty of fish.
Fishing a marabou jig this time of year can be pretty productive. My favorite colors are white in the morning, then tan, and then I will fish, black/yellow, olive or all black all afternoon.
Plastic baits are still catching lots of fish. You really need to have a good quality 2-pound line on your reel right now. If you really want to catch quite a few fish 4-pound pound line, just like a rooster tail spinner, works for about the first 30 or 40 minutes, and then you need to change to a 2-pound line and something else.
Plastic baits are very popular when the water is this low, You need to use smaller hooks and less lead and fish more in a finesse manner.
The best colors in plastics this week were white, eggs, fish oil eggs and the shrimp colored eggs, and the orange was pretty good also.
Plastic worms worked very well this week. The best colors were white, pink and yellow. These were fished the best on a number 10, 202 Aberdeen hook, and one BB shot.
Good luck on the river this week!
Roaring River State Park trout-fishing tips are provided by Tim Homesley, owner of Tim’s Fly Shop, located at 23387 Hwy. 112.
